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Mini Pies ~ Blueberry & Apple Too

I confess, I really like
kitchen gadgets and have my share of them. Then, I read an article about the Breville Personal Pie
Maker…

I eyed the Pie Maker for a
long time on line, and studied the plethora of reviews, before inquiring about
it at Williams Sonoma. They were a
hot little item at the time, and there was even a waiting list for them ~ kind of
like years ago, when I was waiting to read a library book that was on the
reserve list. I passed on the pie
maker list.

Months later, while at
Williams Sonoma, I inquired about the Breville Pie Maker again, and the
saleslady told me she had a stack of them in the back. She said they wouldn’t even be displaying
them as people always ask for them and they sell swiftly. Wow!

Breville Personal Pie Maker

She brought one from the
back for me, and explained how it worked, and how great it is for a variety of
pies, even savory ones. She needn’t have bothered, as I was sold on it before I
saw it!

The other day, I made 4
blueberry and 4 apple pies. First
of all, I heated the pie maker, and cooked the 2 fillings. The instruction book says to fill the
pies with about 1/3 cup filling each.
I think they needed more.
Too full tough, the filling spills out, and then you have a mess.

Next, I followed the advice
in the booklet, and used rolled pie crust from the dairy case for the pastry
base and puff pastry for the pastry top.
I simply unrolled the bottom crust on the flour-dusted countertop; rolled it out slightly, with a rolling pin, so the included pastry cutter would fit perfectly for 4
pie crusts.

Each one was inserted into
a pie mold and tamped down with the accompanying pastry press. Scoop the filling into each one, top
them with 4 cutouts of puff pastry tops, close the lid and let it do it’s thing
for about 12-14 minutes, and ~ VOILA! ~ you have 4 yummy mini pies.

I experimented the first
couple of times with how much filling and how long to bake. I used almost ½ cup filling per pie,
instead of the 1/3 cup suggested in the book. The filling may be heavy enough to push the bottom crust
into the maker, without using the pastry press. Canned filling may be used also. The pie maker crimped the edges of the dough well when
baking.

The pies start baking the
second the bottom crust is inserted, so it requires quick work. The top crust seemed to bake/brown
faster than the bottom so I left the lid open the last minute before removing
them. The longer the pie maker
heated, the better it was, by the second set of pies.

Bakes 4 mini pies

Cut-outs for pastry bottom

Dough ready for filling

Apple filling

Ready to bake

Voila! Second batch baked longer

I think it’s a great gadget.
At holiday time, I will be baking many in a wider variety, since we all have
our personal favorite ~ pumpkin, pecan, apple, mince and cherry. But first, I want to bake
chicken/veggie pies or quiche from a recipe in the instruction book!

Mom was the “pie queen”
and wouldn’t have dreamed of using a store bought crust. Unfortunately, I have never mastered
the art of pie making, like my mom, even after standing by her side, following
step by step. This is the #1 reason why this is
a great gadget for me!

Blueberry Filling

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh blueberries,
rinsed and dried

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup water

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1½ tablespoons corn starch

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

In a medium saucepan,
combine blueberries, sugar, water and lemon zest and corn starch.

Stir to combine and cook
until thickened, without crushing berries.

Remove from heat and stir
in butter and vanilla.

Allow to cool before
assembling pies.

Filling for 4 mini pies

Apple Filling

Ingredients:

4 large apples, peeled,
cored and sliced

4 tablespoons butter

¼ cup light brown sugar,
packed

2 teaspoons corn starch

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

In a saucepan over low
heat, melt the butter.

Add apples and cook until
almost tender, about 10 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients,
except vanilla.

Reduce heat to low.

Stir frequently until
sugar is dissolved and apples are well glazed.

Remove from heat.

Stir in vanilla.

Allow to cool before
assembling pies.

Filling for 4 mini pies

The Breville pie maker is a wonderful thing and if
you like gadgets too and mini pies, you will love this!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind Of
Cooking. She has unique tips on Tuesdays and yummy recipes every Friday!

Disclaimer:
I have no affiliation with the maker of the product. This post is just my personal opinion.

17 comments:

I have looked at this pie maker many times and always talk myself out of buying one. And every time I see a wonderful post about them like yours I want to jump in the car and drive to WS and get one. With all the wonderful fruit available now I think its time for me to give in. Love the savory little pies too!

I got one when a friend gave me a heads up about them. I've made chicken pot pies with it and they were good. Your sweet pies look delicious. I need to make The blueberry and apple next. Cleaned up nice and easy, too.

Hi Pam,You did a great job on using the pie maker. I want to share my tips with you. I've found mini pie makers to be tricky to use. They use to burn my pies before I discovered this clever tool. Now I bake golden pies almost every time, no more burning. Some of you can get the mini pie tool for free here. I love my pie maker now and have learn how to bake pumpkin pies in it. Something the manual said we couldn't do.Did you know you can use sliced bread for the crust? It works pretty well.

Having passed the grain stalls they came to the fritanguerías – the fried stalls – where sweaty, plump women dropped thick pieces of fish into enormous frying pans.Laid out on the wooden trays that served as counters, the fillets of fried fish immediately cooled to take on an almost mineral appearance while thick slices of fried plantain – patacones – were heaped around them.

Tomás González, In the Beginning was the Sea

DINNER PARTY

Jules-Alexandre Grun

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United States 7.3.16

Global Visitors 7.3.16

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May 5, 2004…

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May 5, 2004 – Dec 16, 2014

THIS BLOG LAUNCHED OCTOBER 29, 2009

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Hi, I'm Pam!

My passion is food, whether it’s cooking, eating, talking or reading about it. My blog is all about good home cooked food, with simple instructions, and no weird ingredients, with a few tales now and then. I hope you enjoy your visit and try a recipe or two!